National Honors Society Essay Essay Example for Free

National Honors Society Essay Essay If I had the power to change three things in my school or community, I would obligate all high school students to take a culture and religion class to educate students about people’s various beliefs and customs. Secondly, I would encourage students to take higher level academic classes instead of just the basics. We would send students into freshmen classrooms to and inform them about the benefits of taking some of the tougher classes. At the the same time we are trying to erase some of the misconceptions about the upper level math and science courses. Finally, I would encourage hosting more community activities. Living in the age of globalization, it is crucial for schools to offer a class that teaches global culture, including as well as the beliefs of various ethnic and religious groups. Offering such a class would be a crucial improvement in our school. We all are aware of the importance of obtaining a good education and the highest degrees in the latest and best technologies. In preparation for that we take the hardest classes in school and try to get into the most illustrious college and learn, but, alas, we forget the most important aspect of life: ______. We always forget that what is even more important than understanding the world in which we live in and how it functions and its sciences, is understanding each other and how we as individuals functions based on our beliefs and culture. In the real word, disagreement arises from the inability to understand someone else’s approach to something, especially if they come from a different background than you. On a bigger scale, disputes between countries due to our lack of understanding of others and their customs can often lead to war. So much unnecessary conflict arises from our ignorance and lack of education we receive from school. Therefore, making such a class mandatory for all students would also indubitably trigger healthy relationships throughout the student body, instead of the stereotypical malice that currently flows around. Secondly, I would encourage the student body to take more challenging courses. In high school, we all think about having fun and making the most of these four years, especially during our senior year. Nonetheless, we fail to realize how valuable our time is in high school. How we spend this time determines what colleges we get entry to, what scholarships you receive, but also our future career. Students often surmise that the higher level math and sciences courses are only for  Ã¢â‚¬Å"nerds† and fail to realize the benefits, including how much money it will save them in college. Therefore, I would like to create a program where students who have taken theses higher level courses go around the school during the two-week period when everyone is choosing courses for the next year and discuss the benefits of taking classes such as AP Calculus, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics. Furthermore, this would also clear up some of the appalling misconceptions created about some of these classes. For instance, during a personal encounter I had with a student who I was helping with math homework, she asked what math class I was in. To which I replied, â€Å"I am taking AP Calculus†. She immediately replied with comments such as, â€Å"Why bother, it’s a waste of time. No one ever use Calculus in the real world except if you’re a rocket scientist.† Obviously, she made an illegitimate claim. I had to explain to her that, in fact, the type of math most applied in any career is calculus, as it helps solve 80% of real-world problems and much more applicable than algebra or trigonometry. Reasons and encounters as such is what motivates me to create such programs so students can benefit from them and make the most out of high school. Finally, I would encourage hosting more community activities. We already have a town square where we celebrate the first Friday of every month with a small carnival. But with our small community size and our extremely diverse population, we could host annual picnics where people bring traditional dishes, stage a mixture of cultural performances, and, overall, just have a good time with each other. This kind of exposure is very beneficial for everyone, especially employees and their colleagues. Not knowing about your colleagues and their entertainment and food preferences could create unnecessary problems. One might accidently comment or reference something that is offensive to their co workers creating a spark that could potentially ignite a fire. There are many changes that can be brought to the community and school that would be very beneficial. But if I had the power to change three things in my school or community, I would obligate all high school students to take a culture and r eligion class, encourage students to take higher level academic classes instead of just the basics, and I would encourage hosting more community activities.

Williams and Utilitarianism Essay Example for Free

Williams and Utilitarianism Essay In his critique of Utilitarianism, Williams finds fault in the Utilitarian commitment to maximum utility in that it undermines the integrity of moral agents and denies people the projects and relationships they inherently value. Famously known as his â€Å"Integrity Objection†, this proposition is immediately very enticing in that it appeals to the idea of the invaluable and imperative nature of benevolence and compassion, versus the cold, impartial hand of Utilitarianism. That is not to say, however, that Utilitarians have been dealt a hefty criticism from which they have no defense. While Williams may be correct in claiming that abandoning commitments or devaluing personal relationships may be counterintuitive, a Utilitarian could argue that his construction of â€Å"integrity† is equally counterintuitive in that it would require one to override their intrinsic pursuit of self- preservation. Additionally, if we were to presuppose Williams’ correctness, a Utilitarian could argue that the only plausible implementation of such a theory would mean valuing these emotional engagements above one’s own agency, a scenario even more demanding and sacrificial of one’s identity than the Utilitarian proposal. Williams directs this objection specifically toward Act-Utilitarianism, a branch of Utilitarian thought that deems the morally correct action as the one that produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. He claims that such a theory is incompatible with the aspect of human happiness that is found in the commitment to personal projects and relationships: â€Å"Utilitarianism would do well then to acknowledge the evident fact that among the things that make people happy is not only making other people happy, but being taken up or involved in any of a vast range of projects. †1 While Utilitarians actually need lower order projects comprised of relationships and commitments in order to validate their higher order projects, the lower order projects will always serve the concerns of the first order. In turn, Williams asserts that such a compromise of emotional engagements for maximum utility usurps one’s sense of self, consequently marring the distinction between one’s commitment and one’s identity: â€Å"( ) that criterion would eliminate any desire at all which was not blankly and in the most straightforward sense egoistic. Thus we should be reduced to frankly egoistic first-order projects, and- for all essential purposes- the one second-order utilitarian project of maximally satisfying first-order projects. †2Abandoning certain commitments for the sake of another project can be acceptable, but when forced to relinquish those which a person deeply values, Williams argues they are robbed of â€Å"a sense of one’s moral identity† or what he describes as one’s integrity. Williams offers us two scenarios to further exemplify his theory: â€Å"Jim†, who is told by the edicts of utilitarianism to murder one innocent Amazon Indian in order to prevent twenty more being murdered, and â€Å"George†, a chemist who is (also by the parameters of Utilitarianism) forced to take a job creating weapons of mass destruction, since the balance-sheet of utilities shows that if George refuses, a far younger, more zealous chemist will carry the project along even further and more efficiently than George. While these scenarios may seem like far-fetched constructions meant to reveal Utilitarianism pursuing the wrong choice, Williams conversely (perhaps begrudgingly) admits that these would be the â€Å"right† choices for the given circumstances. The true problem, he argues, is 1? CITATION? 112? 2? CITATION? 113? ? that the emphasis should not simply be on the â€Å"rightness† of the action but the considerations involved in reaching that conclusion. This is a feature of Utilitarianism Williams claims â€Å"cuts out a consideration which for some others makes a difference to what they feel about such cases†. 3 He continues to explain that excluding such considerations denies our sense of personal accountability for our own actions and in turn â€Å"makes integrity as a value more or less intelligible†. 4 In sum, if we were to reduce William’s entire integrity objection to its most salient points, they would be the following: the emotional commitments that are incompatible with the parameters of Act- Utilitarianism are not only impossible to abandon entirely but are an integral facet of human happiness, therefore creating a dilemma for the Utilitarian in that they must allow for it. The potential defense of a Utilitarian to Williams’ objection begins with the examination of his construction of integrity, which he seems to define as one’s â€Å"sense of self†. Looking simply at this definition alone, it could be said that subjectivity suggested with this variety of integrity incorrectly presupposes that a person’s sense of their identity is always correct. Utilitarianism could make a claim for the value in assessing reality with the sort of impartiality that Williams’ rejects, seeing as if one is not being appraised objectively, their sense of self is entirely contingent on their own conception. More importantly, and the crux of the Utilitarian defense, is that while Williams’ is correct in his claim that abandoning these emotional entanglements is counterintuitive, maintaining such commitments are at odds with the human desire for self-preservation, a 3? CITATION? p99? 4? CITATION? p99? ? conflict that Utilitarianism not only recognizes but Williams does not offer any viable solution for. Based on his examples and criticisms of Utilitarianism, it could be inferred that Williams assumes that we have a moral obligation to help others in a time of crisis, that one has an inherent responsibility to compassion and benevolence. This is clearly in conflict with the Utilitarian theory that one’s responsibility is to maximum utility, so even if the Utilitarian were to concede to Williams objection, it would be implausible to imagine a scenario in which the two could be regarded as being of equal value. In turn, the only option available to maintaining this ethos of selflessness would be to regard it as superior to maximum utility. This, a Utilitarian could argue, could prove to be extremely problematic. Firstly, it is extremely unrealistic to assume that people have the capacity to function entirely out of selflessness. Even though benevolence and emotional attachment can provide a certain level of happiness and fulfillment to a person, the expectation to unilaterally value the welfare of others over our own is not only implausible but ultimately self-defeating. Abandoning or betraying commitments in order to further advance a larger more important agenda certainly isn’t an idea particular to Utilitarianism. A quick browse of a history textbook would support that, by and large, humans are inherently self-serving and while one may commit to an act, cause or person, it does not necessarily mean that they themselves aren’t using such relationships for their own agency. Utilitarianism may require that a person abandon a particular commitment for the sake of the greater good, but it can certainly be said that in the absence of utilitarianism, the commitment could be abandoned anyway, except in this case it would be for a self-serving purpose. A Utilitarian could potentially argue that their moral theory simply recognizes and curbs the inwardly focused desires of mankind and attempts to redirect such motivation toward the greater good. One could argue that Williams’ is somewhat disillusioned with mankind as he makes sweeping idealizations of the human psyche. Williams’ examples of â€Å"Jim† and â€Å"George† seem to both be contingent on the idea that what makes said examples disconcerting is premise that both men would be acting against their conscience, in turn making the assumption that all people have consciences that should be considered. Secondly, if one could clear the hurdle of the first argument, the actual implementation of such a theory is extremely difficult. Williams argues that Utilitarianism is far too demanding to be plausible but in fact, trading this impartiality for benevolence proves to be far more exhausting. Considering the world’s current state of affairs, there are always people in dire need of help, so one calls into question exactly what parameters would be set in place in order to orchestrate such a society. What would be the stipulations of a worthy recipient of another’s benevolence? If Williams was simply talking about people’s obligation to those close to them, valuing those relationships above maximum utility creates a bias that is even more incompatible with benevolence than Utilitarianism, which at least works in the interest of the entire population. A Utilitarian could also argue that it simply because they are outweighed by maximum utility does not mean that substantial relationships are not valued in Utilitarianism. While they are indeed lower order projects, a Utilitarian could make an argument that it is through maintaining such relationships that the value of one’s own welfare is realized and are only outweighed by serious interests of first order projects. The analyses above reflect the same conclusion. Williams’ objection brings to light shortcomings in Utilitarianism that are easily felt by those uncomfortable with the impartial and seemingly unfeeling Utilitarian mentality. However, the arguments put forth by Williams regarding the counterintuitive and overly demanding nature of impartiality neglect the similarly inherent and insatiable desire for self-preservation.

Theories of False Memories and Confessions

Theories of False Memories and Confessions Introduction Essentially, the memorization procedure is a compound formula, into which the human mind feeds general knowledge, contextual data—both present and past, and alternate memories (Hyman and Loftus, 2008). It is through the manipulation of such alternatives that criminologists have found that mental frailties and internal collapses allow for coercion and extraction of false memories and confessions. Ultimately, the expansive nature of this field governs the application of misrepresentation and misguidance within clinical participants, thereby affecting children through elders, each attuning different mental perspectives to the acceptance of false memories. Yet the motivations behind such influence are what continue to influence the scope of investigation, challenging researchers and professionals to interpret their data sets according to the prescription of theory and study guidelines. The mistake in this approach, as evidenced in the following analyses is directly aligned with th e diverse nature of the mind itself. Ultimately, mental frailties and personal differences affect the capacity for false memory acquisition, thereby altering the translatability of such a broad range of clinical trials. The reality of memory is that it is a function of lifestyle variables, influenced by emotion, participation, and repression, and oftentimes an overwhelming need to misdirect. Therefore, as researchers pursue the truths behind coercion and acceptance of false occurrences, alternative variable including environment, social and emotional affectation, and experiential bias must be considered. The foundation of criminology is a factual evisceration within a guarded and oftentimes obscured meandering of inconsequential details and coincidences. In order to functionally apply these theories to the study of false memories and confessions, criminologists must identify those variables which are irrelevant and those which directly alter the capacity for appropriate source monitoring and coding. Analysis The following sections identify the relevant theories within the field of false memories and confessions, thereby highlighting the idiosyncrasies which differentiate theory from field results. Given that the study of memory error and falsification has evolved across a broad spectrum of participants and studies, conflicting results do arise requiring researchers to further extrapolate those foundations which can provide a much more derisive prescriptions and analyses. Ultimately, the foundation for false memories derives from situational, contextual, emotional, and suggestible phenomena, each contributing to the failure of internal memory control mechanisms such as codification and source monitoring. Photographs and Events From a clinical perspective, research on false memories is most often conducted through the use of a broad range of participants and photographic or event based suggestions. As researchers note that false memories evolve from varied institutions and scenarios, the internment of such representations within a patient’s mind is directly related to acceptance, context, and ascription (Wade, et al., 2002). To access these variables within the respondent’s mind, researchers will offer them a suggestive false memory, one which when appropriately directed can become a legacy memory, vivid and real in every detail. While these steps remain the foundation of false memory research, the reality is that variables interned within the participant’s cognitive capabilities are actually responsible for the assumptive application. Attribution to a personal experience, or in other words, personal implantation evolves from the coercive factors including context, social, and emotional influences. Hyman and Loftus (1998) highlight an internal assumptive nature within humanity in which photographs are ascribed a credibility, one which is unequivocally reliable and deemed a perpetual representation of emotional encapsulation. Yet this expectation is unreliable unless the participant is both open to suggestion and primed by internal mechanisms, including experiential relevance. A study exploring the affect of doctored images and their reliability in memory coercion conducted by Wade et al. (2002) determined that from a criminology standpoint, the potential for misrepresentation through image doctoring is both real and applicable. Coercion of defendants in a controlled setting through photographic manipulation is an effective mode of generating acceptance of placement, criminal activity, and actions. What must be further exploited, however, is the fact that simply placing a person’s face or figure into a crime scene and then attempting to convince them of its validity is no t an effective, nor internally translatable process. In fact, the photographic qualities themselves are not typically the determining factor in a confession. Situational relevance, environmental variables, and the scope of punishment will oftentimes result in false memory generation under the constraint of suggestive photographs or other evidence. However, in particular studies, where suggestion of validity is enhanced by familiar figures, the capacity to accept its reliability become substantially enhanced (Wade, 2002). In fact, researchers have highlighted that when coupled with vivid memories of childhood events, images can couple with imagination to produce effective pseudomemories (Lindsay et al., 2004). Remarkably, the infusion of both imagination and belief enhance the acceptance of the photograph, thereby evoking a memory which is directly aligned with perceived experience. In truth, experience is then created through mental approbation, enhancing the respondent’s rec ognition of reality and falsifying a lasting memory. Historically, studies have represented the nature of false memory as both contextually and temporally derived, exploiting both age and socio-economic background to attempt to identify those variables which most encourage falsified representation (Bruck et al., 2002; McFarlane et al., 2002; Jones and Powell, 2005). Unfortunately, the explanation for the enhanced falsification at later temporal dates is limited by the scope of experimental constructs, evading those intricacies which most influence childhood interpretation, including environment, experience, and emotional affectation. Regardless of enhanced detail offered by children in relation to false scenarios, the underlying implications demonstrate that internalisation of imagery and detail from prior interviews is directly related to the deviance from actual events. Therefore, future studies must exploit the aforementioned variables to determine how situational memory and influence directs the internalisation of false memories. I n scenarios where sexual abuse is purported, the emotional ties and suggestive influence of the psychologist will oftentimes evoke a false memory which leads to a criminal conviction. Accusers have been known to manufacture their charges through internalised responses to suggestive event or photographs, thereby combining emotion and coercion into a false singular incidence. Encoding and Imagination Much of the research surrounding false memories and false confessions evolves from controlled clinical scenarios through which respondents are subjected to either a suggestive memory or control memory. Researchers note that regardless of age, the reflective process through which subjects engage in encoding suggestions or artificially induced memories influences the depth of misattribution and internment (Zargoza and Lane, 1994). These background motivations remain obscured, thereby limiting the clinical professional’s ability to appropriately interpret results on a deeper and more prescriptive level. One affectation within this realm of study evolves from a Freudian concept of childhood amnesia, through which memories prior to age eight are likely to be lacking in depth and clarity. From this assumption, studies have determined that children are similarly susceptible to acquisition of false memories and imposition of misinformation as a perceived reality within the amnesic per iod as they are after its inception (Strange et al., 2008). Therefore, the nature of false memory association is both temporally and contextually relevant, enhanced by ineffective source monitoring as well as improper codification of misinformation. The ability to correctly identify the source of particular information, whether through memory or suggestion, and interpret it into a memory or external data is oftentimes limited by a cognitive or mental failure or frailty (Johnson et al., 1993). Specificity in questioning when interviewing children or adults will oftentimes dictate the direction of the response. Exemplary of such behaviour, studies relating to children and their memory of physical examination or improper groping have demonstrated that sensitivity to interviewer demands, including the formality of the setting and length of the interview, can lead to inaccurate responses (Bruck et al., 2000). Given that methods of encoding alter on a temporal level, one which evolves throughout maturation, false memories and confessions evolve out of a situational relevance, one which is both contextually and personally linked to the participant. Over longer periods of time, Huffman et al. (1997) determined that the efficacy of an instilled false memory can become altered, oftentimes diminishing or erasing the memory altogether. Helpful in recognising the frailty of false memories, imagination studies, specifically those in which respondents are proposed a false memory and asked to internalize its occurrence, have determined that through suggestion and personal codification that participants could come to believe that they had experienced a particular occurrence (Hyman and Pentland, 1996; Mazzoni and Memon, 2003). Yet in both of these clinical instances, the depth and substance of the memory is temporally altered when participants are removed from the clinical setting. Therefore, the enco ding process, an internalisation of both environment and suggestion, is directly related to the influence of the studies themselves, reducing their reliability of findings. Ultimately, the mental failures which result in false memories evolve as a collusion of personal susceptibility, relevance, and environment. Laney et al. (2008) demonstrated that there can remain a long term persistence of false memories, continuing to affect the participant. The reality is that external from the clinical setting, the impetus to maintain such falsification becomes reduced and the overall affects of the false memories are thereby minimized. Under normal circumstances, the mind will retrace, realigning false memories with more appropriate legacy, yet these studies do not evaluate longer term implications of such imagery and understanding. Similarly, as emotionally charged influences will oftentimes linger at a much more deep seeded level, researchers must pursue appropriate analysis which is direct ly aligned with such memory impetus. Emotional Influence Perhaps the strongest mental affectation of false memories and their long term implantation evolves from the level of emotional connection which participants encounter during a particular study. Emotional influence in memory can substantially alter the representation of a witnessed scene, oftentimes directed through a misinformation filter by interviewers to prescribe altered data to a witness testimony (Porter et al, 2003). The capability to control such emotional connections is increasingly strong the more relevant to the participant the scenario becomes. Had a witness been sexually abused as a child, the coercive capabilities of an investigator in an abuse case would become substantially magnified, enabling direction and suggestion to overwhelm fact and visual memory. The overwhelming affect of misleading questions on eyewitness testimony and remembrance has been demonstrated through clinical evidence to encourage participants to acclimate towards the distinctions of the questioni ng process as opposed to those realities of the actual scene (Porter et al, 2003). Such manipulation relies on the emotional influence of memory and the internal components which link a witness or defendant to a particular incidence. Testimony or discussions involving false memories will oftentimes assume similar levels of emotionality as those which actually occurred. The emotional response, triggered experientially and representing composite cognition over a lifetime of emotional interactions, will oftentimes become evoked through the processes of remembrance, leading to the installation of false memories, regardless of actual occurrence (Laney and Loftus, 2008). Witnesses will assume the same victimisation of the actual victims, thereby imposing their emotional responses on the factual nature of their memory. In cases of criminal activity, emotional connections to a particular incidence, when coupled with the gruelling interview process will oftentimes lead defendants to falsify their testimony, accepting suggestion as fact, rather than adhering to the situational truth. Loftus (1995) recognized that in clinical or trial settings, that frailties within the examination process themselves will oftentimes influen ce the outcome of a participant’s response. Exemplary of this belief, the nature of coercion, and oftentimes, the semantic limitations of suggestive variables can oftentimes influence the respondent to agree with interviewers or alter their personal beliefs to match those which must be right by basis of subtractive analysis. If a child were to claim that they had been abused and the investigator then asked leading questions regarding location, method, and culpability, the child will oftentimes pursue an emotionally charged affirmative approach, thereby aligning with the investigator rather than the factuality of the event (Bruck et al., 2000). It is this form of false memory which is most damaging within the criminal justice system, thereby undermining validity measures and institutional protection mechanisms. Criminals who are emotionally coerced through threat of loss or overwhelming pressure will oftentimes confess under duress as a direct result of the interrogation. A form of constructivist ideology, as outlined by Hyman et al. (1995) exploits the nature of experiential influences over false childhood memories, thereby linking the breadth of supportive detail to the adult’s more subverted knowledge of abuse and emotionality linked to negative stimuli. Unfortunately, the depth of this study does little to substantiate credible interpretation to this cause, redressing the innate social reactivity which respondents concurrently integrated into their memory responses. Therefore, the coincidental nature of general experience and its supposed influence over false memories must be expanded to include qualifications of social and personal bias, each which when coupled with false memories would contribute to the detailed exploration of falsified events. Alternate studies have explored this theory more in depth, highlighting the semantic nature of pre-existing concepts or objects when explored through presupposed personal experiences (Koutstaal, et al., 2001; Koutstaal et al, 2003). Such studies determined that semantics influence older participants to a much greater level, thereby exacerbating the incidence of false memories when considered at a more colloquial level. Were such results coupled with those of Hyman et al. (1995), a more distinctive conclusion could be drawn from which researchers could pursues the underlying social composites which influence and activate both positive and negative memories. What would most likely be found is that a heightened emotional response, specifically one captured within a false memory, is indicative of regressed personal affectation by the incidental actions within a particular scenario. Therefore, researchers might uncover the personally generated codification which internally activates improper sensory processing and ascribes validity to erroneous memories. Coercion and False Confessions Perhaps one of the most widely debated applications of false memory protocol evolves from the need to prosecute, and thereby, coerce a powerful confession from accused defendants. Interrogation and deception are often methods of acquisition, and in certain cases, the pressure of such applications results in false or coerced confessions from which a jury and judge may prosecute (Wakefield and Underwager, 1998). Yet the nature of analysis for such falsifications is oftentimes flawed, actively pursuing the environmental variables which most overwhelm the defendant and their incidental memory as opposed to those underlying personal memory failures and sentiments which most directly influence the need to admit guilt. Researchers Kassin and Kiechel (1996) highlight that similar to those false memories exhibited by misinformed children, defendants under the pressures of interrogation are more likely to confess, internalize, and construct personal detail directly related to a crime they may not have committed. Emotional commitment such as guilt, fear, pride, and frustration will a play varied roles within the coercion process, oftentimes encouraging the unwanted effect of false testimony. Researchers have also determined that in scenarios where heightened social pressure, i.e. the interviewer/psychologist expectations, can influence both confessor and retractor, thereby directing their memories into a falsely coerced state (Ost, et al., 2001). The nature of the interrogation room, a blank slate with little stimulus is one such factor in overwhelming the defendant’s nerve and capacity for subterfuge. Similarly, the investigator’s temperament, the temporal burdens, and the nature of the crime itself will also contribute to extracting a confession. False confessions are oftentimes the product of improper source monitoring, as the interrogators and data stream can evoke a deeply seeded confusion through which event sequences evolve as though in a hazy dream (Wakefield and Underwager, 1998). False memories arise as an inaccurate coding of the information source, an internalisation of the incident as opposed to relinquishing the data stream as an externally fo unded scenario (Hyman and Loftus, 1998). Over time and pressure, defendants will interpret the misinformation within a revised codification, one in which they believe that they actually perpetrated the crime, regardless of guilt. It is this mental block and source alteration which ascribes personal qualities to the criminal activity, thereby coercing a confession. Essential to the functioning of the legal system, those who are wrongly convicted and later released based upon such coercion or malignant testimony will oftentimes find adjustment within normal social limits an impossibility (Shore, 2001). Coercion tactics are designed to evoke a form of control bias, one which places the defendant at a significant disadvantage, and in oftentimes frightening and overwhelming circumstances (Perskey, 2000). Although researchers have considered intelligence and alternative social modifiers as significant influences within an interrogative setting, there is limited support for differentiation of false testifiers on the basis of IQ differences and results are instead linked to internal suggestibility indicators (Gudjonsson, 1991). One question which has not been adequately answered by such research, however, is whether or not intelligence coupled with experiential preparation might undermine the coercive effects of the investigation room. The ability to withstand the pressure and suggestive messaging of the investigative authority figure is a function of several constructs including innocence, experience, fear, authoritative rejection, and many others. All of these variables are directly li nked to the cognitive control measures which reject the false memories or false confession. Influence within the interrogation room can often evolve from stimuli outside of the interrogator’s locus of control, including predefined experience as well as the withdrawal and detoxification from alcohol and illicit substances. One study determined that withdrawal characteristics substantially impair the cognitive abilities of a defendant and enhance suggestibility, oftentimes leading to misleading statements or false confessions due to the possibility of short term gains (Gudjonsson, 1993; Gudjonsson et al., 2002). The need to escape the constrictive confines of the interrogation room, coupled with a need to acquire addictive elements will oftentimes allow the defendant to reduce their internal protective mechanisms and through an expectation of gain, acquiesce to the coercion. On the other hand, long term experience within the criminal field will negatively influence the coercion practices utilized in standard interrogation. Therefore, criminologists will oftentimes empl oy alternative methodology specifically designed to access the regressed emotional block associated previous incarceration experiences, as well as present an expectation of leniency or freedom given the acceptance of confession or presentation of alternatives. Again, as with substance abuse, the emotional commitment to goal acquisition will enhance the internalisation of investigative presentation, oftentimes coercing a confession by nature of the expected benefit. Conclusion As recanting has become a principle mode of overturning a confession in the modern court system, the investigative approach assumed by criminal professionals has evolved to assume a much more Freudian zeal. Given the depth of mental deviance between participants within this vast field, the potential for coerced confessions and false memories is blatantly obvious, unfortunately, the numerous investigations and clinical trials have yet to yield a worthy prescription of authority on this issue. While assumptive reasoning can discern those cases in which convicts were coerced and forced into a premature confession, the numerous recants and overturned cases have led the industry to remain wary and protective of any form of premature adjudication. Ultimately, the internal mechanisms which drive false memories into a believable reality are expansive and oftentimes linked to variables within a criminal mind that cannot be appropriately analyzed without deep psychological evaluation. The nature of false memory is one which can be manipulated both for virtuous and derogatory efforts, a weapon in the arsenal of the criminal investigator. Unfortunately, identifying when a codified suggestion has errantly become a mode of confession for an innocent defendant is a difficult and painstaking task. As theorists attempt to derive methods for applying such falsifications to their patients, they are rejecting the need for recognition protocol. It is through the identification of discrepancies and storyline vagrancies that criminologists can actively pursue the appropriate perpetrators and reject a coerced confession from those who are overwhelmed by interrogation and suggestion. Source monitoring and the nature of authority in the criminal justice system are conflicting mechanisms of memory alteration, each influencing the participant’s internalisation while investigators actively pursue their results. Too often does the system become enamoured with the conviction, t hereby rejecting the truth in favour of exploitative techniques. It is through the investigation of factually founded memories and the application of appropriate research that criminal experts will eventually retain their culprits. References Bruck, M; Ceci, S.J; Francoeur, E. (2000) Children’s Use of Anatomically Detailed Dolls to Report Genital Touching in Medical Examination: Developmental and Gender Comparisons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 6, (1), 74-83. Bruck, M; Ceci, S; Hembrooke, H. (2002) The Nature of Children’s True and False Narratives. Developmental Review, 22, 520-554. Huffman, M.L; Crossman, A.M; Ceci, S.J. (1997) Are False Memories Permanent? An Investigation of the Long Term Effects of Source Misattributions. Consciousness and Cognition, 6, 482-490. Gudjonsson, G. (1991) The Effects of Intelligence and Memory on Group Differences in Suggestibility and Compliance. Personality Individual Differences, 12, (5), 503-505. Gudjonsson, G. (1993) Confession evidence, Psychological Vulnerability, and Expert Testimony. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 3, 117-129. Gudjonsson, G; Hannesdottir, K; Petursson, H; Bjornsson, G. (2002) The Effects of Alcohol Withdrawal on Mental State, Interrogative Suggestibility and Compliance: An experimental Study. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 13 (1), 53-67. Hyman, I.E; Husband, T.H; Billings, F.J. (1995) False Memories of Childhood Experiences.†Applied Cognitive Psychology, 9, 181-197. Hyman, I.E; Loftus, E.F. (1998) Errors in Autobiographical Memory. Clinical Psychology Review, 18, 933-947. Hyman, I.E: Pentland, J. (1996) The Role of Mental Imagery in the Creation of False Childhood Memories. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 101-117. Johnson, M.K; Hashtroudi, S; Lindsay, D.S. (1993) Source Monitoring. Psychological Bulletin, 114 (1), 3-28. Jones, C.H; Powell, M.B. (2005) The Effect of Event Context on Children’s Recall of Non-Experienced Events Across Multiple Interviews. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 10, 83-101. Kassin, S.M; Kiechel, K.L. (1996) The Social Psychology of False Confessions: Compliance, Internalization, and Confabulation. Psychological Science, 7, 125-128. Koutstaal, W; Reddy, C; Jackson, E.M; Prince, S; Cendan, D.L; Schacter, D.L. (2003) False Recognition of Abstract Versus Common Objects in Older and Younger Adults: Testing the Semantic Categorization Account. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29 (4), 499-510. Koutstall, W; Schacter, D.L; Brenner, C. 92001) Dual Task Demands and Gist-Based False Recognition of Pictures in Younger and Older Adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 399-426. Laney, C; Fowler, N.B; Nelson, K.J; Bernstein, D.M; Loftus, E.F. (2008) The Persistence of False Beliefs. Acta Psychologica, 129, 190-197. Laney, C; Loftus, E.F. (2008) Emotional Content of True and False Memories. Memory, 16, 5, 500-516. Lindsay, D.S; Hagen, L; Read, D; Wade, K.A; Garry, M. (2005) True Photographs and False Memories. Psychological Science, 15 (3), 149-154. Loftus, E.F. (1995) Memory Malleability: Constructivist and Fuzzy-Trace Explanations. Learning and Individual Differences, 7 (2), 133-137. Mazzoni, G; Memon, A. (2003) Imagination Can Create False Autobiographical Memories. Psychological Science, 14 (2), March,186-188. McFarlane, F; Powell, M.B; Dudgeon, P. (2002) An Examination of the Degree to Which IQ, Memory, Performance, Socio-Economic Status, and Gender Predict Young Children’s Suggestibility. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 7, 227-239. Ost, J; Costall, A; Bull, R. (2001) False Confessions and False Memories: a Model for Understanding Retractors’ Experiences. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 12 (3), 549-579. Perske, R. (2000) Deception in the Interrogation Room: Sometimes Tragic for Persons with Mental Retardation and Other Developmental Disabilities. Mental Retardation, 532-537. Porter, S; Spencer, L; Birt, A.R. (2003) Blinded By Emotion? Effect of the Emotionality of a Scene on Susceptibility to False Memories. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 35 (2), 165-175. Shore, P. (2001) Resettlement Needs of the Wrongly Convicted. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 12 (3), December, 487-490. Strange, D; Wade, K; Hayne, H. (2008) Creating False Memories for Events That Occurred Before Versus After the Offset of Childhood Amnesia. Psychology Press, 16 (5), 475-484. Wade, K.A; Garry, M; Read, J.D; Lindsay, D.S. (2002) A Picture is Worth a Thousand Lies: Using False Photographs to Create False Childhood Memories. Psychonomic Bulletin Review, 9 (3), 597-603. Wakefield, H; Underwager, R. (1998) Coerced or Nonvoluntary Confessions. John Wiley and Sons. Zargoza, M.S; Lane, S. M. (1994) Source Misattributions and the Suggestibility of Eyewitness Memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20, 934-935.

The Economics of Federal Defense Policy :: Political Science

Three out of four Americans polled in the 1992 election year believed that the United States was heading in the wrong direction. With such an overwhelming consensus, the country hired a new president to attempt to fix the vital issues at hand. Although both Republicans and Democrats believed that the United States was still the "sole superpower", the people of the United States saw that their quality of life was deteriorating. In fact, the signs of economic, social, and political decay were undeniable. For example, the wages of production workers in America have declined twenty percent in the last twenty years due to large corporations shifting their operations overseas. Over thirty-seven million Americans are without health insurance due to its exploding costs. There are about sixty million people below the poverty line; fourteen million of which are children. Our crime rate is at an all-time high as well as the population in our prison system. The United States has nineteen preceding nations that have lower infant mortality rates. Among the twenty most developed countries in the world, the United States has the highest divorce rate and the highest teen pregnancy rate. The most incredulous fact of all is that the Pentagon continues to absorb twenty percent of the federal budget-over a third of which is spent protecting Europe against an enemy that no longer exists. In fact, that is the most probable source of America's problems: the budget. Forty-seven percent of the national federal budget is spent for a military expense. The National Defense, the topic of this paper, is what is stealing money from the poor in our own country and lessening our status as the "sole superpower" of the world. The National Defense was a program initiated from day one of the United States' existence. It was a program designed to protect the people of the world, but primarily the people of this nation. It was designed to protect human rights and the ideals of democracy and capitalism. However, in lieu of recent events, the use for such a program is now debatable. The world has changed significantly and dramatically within the last five years. The threat of an evil empire such as the Soviet Union is no longer; the Cold War is over. Ultimately, demilitarization is needed for many reasons. Both Democrats and Republicans alike supported the development of a gigantic- industrial complex. Both are content with only minor budget reductions.

Rhetorical Analysis of The Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” Essay

Rhetorical Analysis of The Talking Heads’ â€Å"Once in a Lifetime† Kenneth Burke’s Five Master Terms exist to bring to light the motivation behind, theoretically, any bit of text to which we care to apply them. The beauty of this Pentad is its fundamentality in regards to the motivations humans have in creating words and meaning using the tools of language available. This doesn’t just apply to long-winded theses regarding the nature of dramatistic meaning, though perhaps something like that would be more up Burke’s alley. No, in this case I plan to utilize his methods for a more seemingly mundane example, the motivations behind something as simple as song lyrics. I say song lyrics are simple, but in this case I am going to attempt a feat of rhetorical analysis few have considered possible by analyzing the song â€Å"Once in a Lifetime† by The Talking Heads. I emphasize the difficulty of this analysis because I fear that I am about to embark on a journey to make sense out of madness; a 1984 documentary of the band’s music is entitled Stop Making Sense, for one example. For another more drastic example, songwriter David Byrne was one of the most intentionally abstract lyricists of his time; in an early episode of apparent madness, he took to the stage of his college and shaved his hair and beard in front of the faculty to the accompaniment of piano accordion and a showgirl displaying phrases in Russian. He was promptly ejected from that school. Regardless, his song â€Å"Once in a Lifetime† is symbolic of the introspective, neurotic, and post-modern approach he often uses to create his lyrical identity. Though I at first fo und it to be a rough fit, I believe the Pentad can be successfully applied to describe the motivation ... ...it becomes clear that everything is unclear. I will summarize my application, however, for the sake of my own understanding. The dominant Term here is Act, the balance between essence and existence carefully held by Byrne’s dialectic of water and time as a unified sameness. Working symbiotically with Act is the idea of Agent, a theoretical character defined as finding, investigating, and determining a situation without Acting within it. Byrne’s purpose is to know right or wrong in the Scene of his lifetime. The Agency through which he defines truth within the Scene is time, which shares more than a fingers’ breadth of space with my first term, Act. I’ve come to the end of the analysis with a sense that I’ve just begun: a lot of fancy words to describe the futility of change. I did preface this application by noting The Talking Heads’ propensity to stop making sense.

strenght of relational model :: essays research papers

Introduction The first database systems were based on the network and hierarchical models. A database can be defined as a collection of non-redundant data which can be shared by different application systems. A database implies separation of physical storage from use of the data by an application program to achieve program/data independence. Using a database system, the user or programmer or application specialist need not know the details of how the data are stored and such details are usually "transparent" to the user. . These are covered briefly in appendices in the text. The relational model was first proposed by E.F. Codd in 1970 and the first such systems were developed in 1970s. The relational model is now the dominant model for commercial data processing applications. The relational model can be used in both conceptual and logical database design. The basic structure in the model is a table .Tables consists of rows and columns. Relationships in the relational model are represented implicitly through common attributes between different relations. The relational model consist of a relational structure, a set of integrity rules, and data manipulation operations. The relational structure is based on the representation of data in the form of tables. A table contains rows and columns, with each row representing an individual record, and each column representing a field for each record. Tables are related via indirect indexes of primary and foreign keys. The operations that are performed on these tables in order to store, manipulate and access this data include union, intersection, join, division, restriction, projection, assignment, difference, and product. How do you know if the relational model best fits your intended application? An application that requires on-line transaction processing (OLTP) where multiple files are updated simultaneously could benefit from the table structure of the relational model. The relational model provides the ability to quickly insert data into tables. However, when it comes to querying--getting data out of the database--the relational model can be slower because it doesn’t support direct access in multiple joins that are possible with the network model. An RDBMS-based application requires the traversal of indexes to get at related data in other files and this requires additional disk accesses and CPU cycles. The more tables involved and the greater the volume of records in these tables the more time is spent in accessing disk storage to get a result set. But while the relational model has the power to meet heavy-duty OLTP needs--get data into the database--it is also an excellent choice for simpl e databases and for an inexperienced database designer.

Charles Dickens Essay

Examine the presentation of the three spirits and Marley’s ghost in â€Å"A Christmas carol† and show the differences and similarities in their appearance, attitude towards Scrooge and the effect upon him. Consider also the spectre in â€Å"The Signalman† In a Christmas carol by Charles Dickens, the four ghosts are all described differently. They all help to change scrooge into a nicer person. The ghosts all act disparately and look disparately. Scrooge has a different effect on each one of the ghosts, two of the ghosts he likes and one of the ghosts he dislikes. Scrooge is also treated dissimilar, some ghosts care for him, and others are forceful. The ghost of Marley appears first, he is described as ‘In his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. ‘ Marley also had a chain around his middle, which was long and wound about him like a tail. The chain was made of cash boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deed and heavy purses wrought in steel. Marleys body was transparent, so Scrooge could see the 2 buttons on his coat behind. He also had a handkerchief wrapped around his head and chin which held his jaw up. The ghost of Christmas past turns up next. He is described as ‘a strange figure-like a child; yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium. Which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a Childs proportions. ‘ The ghost’s hair hung about its neck and down its back. His hair was white, as if with age; but his face wasn’t old, and didn’t have any wrinkles in it. He had long and muscular arms, like his hands. Its legs and feet were delicately formed. The ghost wore a white tunic, and round its waist was a lustrous belt. ‘It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. ‘ The strangest thing about the ghost was that from the crown of its head sprang a clear jet of light, which by all was visible to see ‘ and was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm. ‘ The next ghost was the ghost of Christmas present, he was clothed in one simple deep green robe, which was bordered with white fur. ‘This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. ‘ His feet was also bare, and on its head it wore no other covering than a holly wreath with shining icicles. ‘Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye. Its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air. ‘ Around the ghosts middle was an antique scabbard; but there wasn’t a sword in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust. The last of the ghosts to meet Scrooge was the ghost of Christmas yet to come. You couldn’t see any of its facial features because ‘it was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its face, its head and its form, and left nothing of it visible, save one outstretched hand. ‘ Because of this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. The spectre in the signalman by Charles Dickens isn’t described very well in the story, all we know is that the spectre is a man and he has a sleeve over his arm. His voice was hoarse with shouting ‘halloa, below there! ‘ In the Christmas carol, Marley is a friendly ghost and he is very nice, he enjoys being in the company of Scrooge, Scrooge says ‘you were always a good friend to me. ‘ He obviously cares about Scrooge because he wouldn’t have gone there to warn him about the three ghosts and what would happen to him if he kept hating Christmas. Marley was the only true friend Scrooge has had. The ghost of Christmas past is nice, friendly and reasonable. The ghost cared for Scrooge, he once asked him ‘what’s the matter? ‘ Even though he is nice and friendly, he forces Scrooge into seeing things that he doesn’t want to see. For example Scrooge says ‘leave me, take me back, haunt me no longer. ‘ ‘But the relentless ghost pinched him in both arms and forced him to observe what happened next. ‘ The ghost of Christmas present is a kind and jolly ghost. The ghost and Scrooge were cheerful when they visited homes. ‘The spirit stood besides sickbeds, and they were cheerful and they were patient in their greater hope, by poverty and it was rich. ‘ The ghost makes Scrooge more relaxed around him, he isn’t frightened, and he is calm in the ghost’s presence. Like the ghost of Christmas past, this spirit is also forceful and makes him see what he doesn’t want to see. The ghost of Christmas yet to come doesn’t speak at all, this ghost is the one Scrooge is scared of most. ‘Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. Scrooge is frightened of him the most because he doesn’t know what his personality is like; with the other ghosts they were kind and caring. This ghost just points to places. But when Scrooge saw his grave then he got worried and cried ‘hear me! I am not the man I was, I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this if I am past all hope? ‘ When Marley visits Scrooge, he is scared at first, because he doesn’t know who it is, until the ghost got a bit closer, Scrooge was surprised to see his old friend, when Marley walked off to the window ‘it beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did.